Whitehall Chamber Corner: A Real Conversation About Burnout

Burnout is a severe problem these days. With technology allowing us to be accessible around the clock, some employees feel like they’re never getting a break. As a chamber pro, it’s not just tech that keeps you accessible. Every minute you’re in your town you run the risk of people coming up to you and making you feel like “you’re on the clock.” No wonder you may feel stressed and burned out.

But being available or “always on” doesn’t make people feel the most burnout. In this article, we’ll cover two different types of burnout, isolate the most devastating of the two, and uncover what you can do to make things a little better before you feel the need to leave the industry.

Burnout is not being tired of something. Although I may tell the kids that I’m not “burned out” from taking the garbage out.

Being burned out means feeling emotionally depleted, with no available energy, a loss of joy or quality of life stemming from work, and distancing or uncaring in even the most dire of work situations. (You may call this being tuned out–you just don’t care even if your members lost their business overnight.) As the problems worsen, you’ll find yourself making more and more mistakes, which will also contribute to your discontent in your job.

Mindy Shoss, a professor of psychology at the University of Central Florida, says, “There are many potential causes of burnout in today’s workplaces—excessive workloads, low levels of support, having little say or control over workplace matters, lack of recognition or rewards for one’s efforts, and interpersonally toxic and unfair work environments. Add to that the constant hum of uncertainty about a possible recession, and it’s no surprise that burnout is on the rise in many workplaces.”

For chamber pros, you’re not only dealing with your own concerns about economic uncertainty but sharing the concerns of everyone in your community as well. That can be a significant struggle.

Why Is Burnout Such a Problem These Days? First, burnout is not something that is just plaguing chamber pros. It’s rampant in every industry, and there’s a lot driving it, Dr. Shoss pointed out. However, other things contribute to it besides the structure of the business. Things like:

• Tech. Tech has placed us on an electronic leash where many feel like we’re constantly tethered to work and obligations.

• Lack of etiquette. Just because you can reach someone doesn’t mean you should. Do you need to ask your staffer where the stapler is on a Saturday night? Unless it’s a gold stapler or hiding jewels that Bugsy Malone asked you to hold onto, and now he’s in your living room asking for it, it can wait until Monday. It’s not “text worthy.” What may seem like a small ask can feel like an invasion of privacy to your staffer. If you’re afraid you will forget to inquire about that very important stapler and want to get it off your mind, add it to your calendar or use the handy scheduling feature in your email to send it on Monday morning.

• Health. This is a question of what comes first, the chicken or the egg (or, in this case, the adverse health or the burnout). The stress from job burnout takes a toll on your health. It can cause heart disease, headaches, gastrointestinal problems, depression, acne breakouts, and body aches. But lousy health can also make you more aware of your burnout level. When you begin trying to figure out what is causing the day-long fatigue and aches and pains, you may discover they are job-related.

Burnout is not just your problem to solve. It’s one employers everywhere should be thinking about. (It would make a great Lunch & Learn topic.) Burnout leads to high rates of absenteeism, relational problems with peers, efficiency challenges, and a higher incidence of mistakes.

Can Burnout Be Good for You? While you never wish for burnout, you can recover from it if it’s the “good” kind. The irreversible burnout that leads to feelings of mistrust is the kind where you feel overworked and undervalued. Again, burnout is not caused by (just) working long hours. If it were, every chamber pro would feel that way. When you work hard and feel valued, like you are making a difference, it’s energizing, not debilitating.

But when you work hard and feel it doesn’t make a difference, that’s another story.

Fixing the kind of burnout where you don’t feel appreciated is hard because even with an honest conversation with your board and assuming they could right whatever has been making you feel undervalued, this problem is often accompanied by a breach of trust. You felt they had your back at one point, but now they don’t. This isn't easy to overcome and will take some real searching to figure out how to fix it.

On the other hand, there is a type of burnout that can be overcome and can even be a good thing in your career.

Good Burnout: The “good” kind of burnout comes when we are not doing enough of the kind of work that brings us joy. Yes, work is work. But something attracted you to being a chamber professional or some hobby or experience that you used to balance out your job challenges.

Remembering what that light in your life was can serve as a wake-up call and a key to overcoming your current state of burnout. For instance, let’s say you used to be the membership director of your chamber, and you loved the interaction with potential members. You enjoyed hearing their business goals and finding ways chamber membership could help them attain them. You were so good at what you did–building these relationships–that when the president/CEO retired, you were a natural choice for that role. But now, all you hear is complaining, and all you do is put together reports and attend meetings. What you loved most is now very little of your job.

This is a common complaint in business, too. People who are good at a job are often promoted, so they no longer “do.” They “manage.” That can feel uninspiring to those who enjoy doing. That isn’t to say that every chamber president is only managing. Most are doing it all. But if you can trace your discontent back to a change in job responsibilities, you can fix the problem.

But what if you can’t just go back to membership director, or what if it’s not a change in job duties that has you feeling spent?

Feed Yourself: In this case, what you may be lacking is a thing we’ll call nourishment for your joy muscle. Every job comes with its stresses and parts of the program you just don’t like. The challenge is we tend to get stuck on the things that impact us most negatively in the same way that customers are 2-3 times more likely to leave a negative review than a positive one. Our evolutionary response attached to fight or flight means we pick up–and remember–negative impressions longer than positive ones because the negative ones caused us to go into fight or flight.

However, we can balance the negative by remembering what brings us joy. Sometimes, we can incorporate more of that (joyful activities) into our work or take breaks and participate in things that restore us. For instance, back when I had a very stressful job working for someone else, I went to my car every day at lunch to write. I couldn’t change my job description and duties, but I could incorporate something I loved into my lunch hour to help me recharge. Subsequently, I wrote a novel that way over nine months, but even more importantly, it helped me feel refreshed enough to go back in and give that job my all for the next 4-5 hours.

Perhaps you can find something to fill your breaks with. If you can’t take a break at work, try to incorporate 15 minutes of something you enjoy after work instead of watching TV or doing chores. Or wake up 15 minutes earlier. You won’t miss those extra minutes.

If you don’t have an interest that feeds you emotionally, either find one or consider journaling. It can help you relieve your worries and stresses without impacting your job security.

Why Is This “Good” Burnout? You may be wondering why I’m calling this “good” burnout when all it really seems like is a distraction, which may be reversible. While that’s true, I’m using this term because this type of burnout–upon examination–almost always leads to a breakthrough. Just as one may see lightning before hearing the crack of thunder, this type of burnout can be a warning signal to explore more of what you enjoy and incorporate it into your life.

When you do, you might find a new energy permeating your position and role in the chamber. Your burnout can lead to a breakthrough as you explore new ways to enjoy your job again. Doing so can have a ripple effect on the whole community.